" Lombardia, thanks to its businesses, once again does better than the rest of the country to the point that the GDP gap compared to 2019 is even higher than +5%. It is Europe, now, that risks losing ground." The president of Assolombarda, Alessandro Spada, during the conference 'The world in 2024: increasingly fragmented? Scenarios for businesses, between risks and opportunities, promoted by Ispi, Assolombarda and Sace, which was held in the auditorium of Assolombarda's renovated headquarters in Milan.
Assolombarda and the geopolitical context
“From a geopolitical point of view – explains Spada – we find ourselves acting in a historical moment in which structures, assumptions and hierarchies, sometimes even centuries-old, of the global industrial and economic ecosystem are being redefined”. Despite the slowdown of the global economy, Italy is the European country that registered the more vigorous recovery after the pandemic: in 2023 it closed with a GDP level +3,0% higher than that of 2019, well above the +0,8% of the Germany, +2,4% in Spain, +1,6% in France and +2,1% in the United Kingdom.
“Results are the result of the reactivity, competitiveness and innovation of our companies which – he underlines – are global leaders in many specialized in very high quality segments, such as fashion, design,automotive,aerospace, mechanics, pharmaceutica and consumer goods. Ours is a solid, industrious and enterprising country and on an international level one of the most extraordinary and competitive economies".
“2024 – adds the president of Assolombarda – certainly did not open with the best conditions, we are starting to observe the first real effects of the extension of the conflict in the Middle East, with the escalation of attacks in the Red Sea which jeopardized the safety of maritime trade and brought to light the tensions on freight prices. For Italy the CSuez anal represents 40% of the national maritime import-export, i.e. 154 billion dollars and with the current situation we are experiencing a considerable increase in both the transport time of goods and the costs of containers which have reached 6.282 dollars today (18 January 2024 ), i.e. +352% compared to October 2023".
Assolombarda's concerns
Alessandro Spada then expressed concern for the future of European industry: “Europe is the second largest manufacturing reality in the world, but it risks losing ground. There are basically two causes: la lack of a strategy of community industrial policy and the lightness with which the current Commission and Parliament have made choices and launched highly ideological measures and penalizing European industry. These orientations, together with the lack of awareness of the strength of our industry and the lack of common financial instruments (such as a European sovereign fund financed by Eurobonds), risk leading to the de-industrialisation of the Union, the loss of competitiveness of our companies and the 'alteration of the internal competition itself between the member countries of the Union, thus compromising the integrity and unitary strength of the European project'.
